Morning Update: Shapiro Speaks

Ahh Morning Update....

After a day with no game.. It's boring.

I have to work tonight, so I'll have to miss the first hour and a half or so of the game. But I can't complain, this is one of the very few times I'll have to miss part of an evening game because of work.

The real trick is setting my eat schedule.

I'm waiting to eat breakfast so I don't eat lunch so soon. This way I can last till I get home.

Meh, you don't care, but these are things I plan out on a daily basis.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I don't know where to start.

I guess with Mark Shapiro because he talked to the reporters on a conference call yesterday. And well they have to grill him.

Let me see what we got here.. Lots of quotes.. Might as well start with CastroTurf. A-Team your up. Roster Moves:

"We'd consider any move that would make our team better. No one at Columbus has made themselves a clear, better alternative to the guys up here. We need to balance the importance of making us better and understanding there's some urgency with also understanding the long schedule and respecting what players have done and giving them the opportunity to get on track."

Who would you call down? Offensively this team is going good. They've got several guys on the DL.

Pitching wise, what are you going to do with the starters? Laffey earned another start, everyone else.. I mean Pavano's latest start gives you hope. Reyes has been okay.

The bullpen isn't a problem if the starters just go deeper. But I'm guessing this was a stem off someone asking about Rafael Perez. He has an option left, but Shapiro says there isn't anyone at Columbus that is pitching well enough to take his spot. Wedge wouldn't use that player right anyway.

As for making an actual move for trades or whatever.. Way too early.

"We're not locked into any date to make a decision. We're not going to be passive. We clearly understand the expectations. We're not resistant to making moves, but we've got to feel confident those moves will make us a better team."

April Starts:

"It's certainly something we're aware of and don't want. It's something Eric's taken a lot of time to try to look at and examine in the past. It's not something we're happy about and something we like. But we've been the best team in baseball the last four years in August and September."

That is a reassuring fact, but we need to be in the race when those months roll around or it won't matter.

Really though it seems the central theme was talking about that replay on Sunday, which I could care less about on Tuesday, even after a hissy fit on Sunday and Monday.

"It certainly appeared the ball went over Crowe's glove and into the stands," Shapiro said. "I can understand the umpire's ruling."

"Focusing on that play would be an excuse," he said. "We didn't execute situationally [on offense], and our bullpen didn't execute. That play was influential, but to use that would be an excuse, and that's not how we play."

I'm with him on the excuses part, but it still is not excusable for the umps to blow a call like that. I don't know if Shapiro was just saying that about agreeing with the ruling or not, but I don't agree.

So why is Eric Wedge the right guy for this team?

Well you may not agree with it, hell I hate it when he doesn't get pissed. But his players like his personality.

"He's always the same," outfielder Shin-Soo Choo said. "I like that. [Whether] we're doing good or bad, it doesn't matter. He has the same personality."

You are only as good as your players, Wedge has said that, and your players are only as good as they play. If they aren't happy with you, they aren't going to play. Most of that locker room, hell probably that entire locker room love Wedge and his personality.

Slow April, maybe. But Shapiro had a good comment.

"[Wedge] doesn't panic," Shapiro said, "and he stays strong and consistent to what he believes makes championship teams and players. It's not something we look to test by having these types of Aprils. But whenever we hit a rough spot, I think Eric's strengths shine even stronger than they do at other times."

A lot of people aren't in the Wedge fan club, I'm not a member, but I support our manager for what he is because I think he's the right guy for this team right now.

A few opinion pieces fly out here. Dennis Manoloff assesses... assesses hehehe... the Cleveland Indians so far.

Terry Pluto... I mean really I feel like this sometimes.

I'm not in agreement with him in his concerns with the bullpen. I think Perez is just a slow starter, he'll get himself out of it. They NEED THE STARTERS TO GO DEEPER..

Ahhhh blarf...